Adaptive Mechanisms and Regulatory Strategies of Plants Under Saline Stress and Prospects for the Development and Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicines in Saline Land

Soil salinization has seriously restricted the growth of crops and the sustainable use of land resources. The exploitation and utilization of saline land has become an urgent problem of agricultural development and environmental management. Medicinal plants have “stress effect”, and some adversity stresses often become positive regulators of their quality, which provides new ideas for the development and utilization of saline land. Based on it, this review summarizes the adaptive mechanism of plants under saline stress, including the construction of plant phenotypic characteristics, osmotic regulation, ion homeostasis, and hormone regulation. We also outline management strategies for saline land, primarily encompassing physical, chemical, biological, and comprehensive improvements. We further discuss the prospects for the development and utilization of Chinese herbal medicines in saline land based on the resources of salt-tolerant medicinal plants and the effects of saline stress on the quality of Chinese herbal medicines, with a view to providing references for the improvement and utilization of saline land, as well as the solution of the dilemma of medicinal plants competing for land with grains.